Faith is powerful!

Acts 3

1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Peter had preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost just before this healing event occurred but what made this healing special? The lame man had faith. He didn’t know Jesus, but he was expecting something from Peter and John. It is that expectant faith which brings the miracles of God into our lives! Some of us who have given our hearts to Jesus and asked Him into our lives and our hearts have faith because without it we wouldn’t have felt the pull on our hearts to come to Jesus.

But many times our faith is tested in ways that we don’t recognize as a test and we don’t expect anything from that experience. We go through it and we may pray for God to give us the strength to get through whatever it may be, but we don’t expect a miracle from it. But…we should!

While the lame man was actually expecting money from Peter, it was that attitude of expectancy which brought his miracle into his body. He expected something, anything from Peter and when Peter said “in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk”, he did! He expected something and he got more than he expected from the encounter.

So, why don’t we get miracles today? Some say it is because miracles only happened at the beginning of the church age. I think it is because of our stubborn hearts and minds which have been “programmed” to discount things which science can’t explain. But miracles do happen today. Some of them are part of a medical treatment or surgery which God uses to bring a miracle into that person’s life. Which allows doctors to see that their treatment works in concert with prayer and faith.

Some of the doctors may not see the recovery as a miracle but there are times when a healing happens and the doctor can’t explain it because it happened through his treatment but not because of the treatment. In other words, the doctor wasn’t expecting a healing in this instance but the patient and their family were and God honored that. I imagine that many of these miracles happen more often than we realize. They just happen in the background and unless there is faith involved the healing might not have happened at all.

Father?

Father? Are you there? (Silly boy, I am always here)

I just need to talk to you. (I am listening)

My day…hasn’t gone very good today. (Why do you think that?)

Well, it just doesn’t feel quite right. It seems that most of the things which I tried to get done today took longer or just didn’t work out like I had wanted them to, you know? (Yes, I have been with you through every minute of your day, but you didn’t ask Me about any of it until things didn’t work like you thought they should)

Yes, I know and I’m sorry about that. I should’ve started my day with You and asked You to help me through the day with all of the things which I needed to do. (I’ve been telling people this for thousands of years and it seems that it takes a few missteps and scrapes before they learn to do it right)

Sometimes, I think I can do it myself, you know? (Yep, I’ve heard that same sentence thousands of times)

Father, help me to remember to include you in my day from the beginning when I wake up and all through the day until I go to sleep again. (I will gladly do that…but you have to listen to my Voice and include Me, I will not force My Presence into your life. You have to invite Me in every day, can you do that?)

I will try, Father. (In the words of another wise teacher, “try not, do or do not, there is no try”)

Father, that was a quote from Yoda in a Star Wars movie. (Well, if it makes sense to you then I use it)

Thank you, Father, for listening and being there when I need you. (I am always here, you just need to live your life like you know it well enough to feel my Presence in your life. Try not to shut Me out because when you do, I let you. That is when you feel alone.)

This is the relationship that I want to have with Jesus and His Father and the reality of it is this: it will be this way when we are there in Heaven. How wonderful will that be?

Differences

In the church, there are many differences. Differences of doctrine and belief and differences of procedure in the order of service and other things related to our worship of God and His Son, Jesus the Messiah. But…why are there such drastic differences? We are all worshiping the same risen Lord, we mostly share the same Bible, so why are there so many things which are different between churches? This is something which I have wondered about for most of my life and now that I have been a pastor for most of the last decade, I still can’t see a reason for them.

Yes, there are doctrinal differences between Baptists and Methodists and all of the variations of those two denominations. There are differences between Lutheran and Episcopal and Catholic churches as well as differences between Presbyterian and Church of God and ……, the list could go on for a long, long while. My point is this: Why exactly are we so different?

In my opinion, it is because of Satan. He has gotten into church administration business meetings and sown seeds of dissent and anger and strife to the point of splitting churches because of small things which could be resolved but usually aren’t. These little splinters grow into huge logs which split the church into another doctrine or discipline and the church is weakened because of it.

Remember, at first the church had all things in common. Their belief and their doctrine were that which was taught to the disciples and then to the churches and this carried on for a couple of centuries and then the church began splitting off because of disagreements and ideas about how the church should be run. Of course, it is too late to reorganize the Body of Christ into a cohesive whole today but it was never supposed to be split up like it is now.

That is why there are so many “non-denominational” churches today. These people just want to worship God and learn from His Word and put away all of the bickering and petty squabbles which split the unity of the church. We are supposed to be sharing our life with Christ and with each other and our congregations who are unified as believers in Jesus our Savior. Why are we still divided in our worship practices today?

I don’t think an answer that will be satisfactory for the church will be found until Jesus comes back and begins His reign on Earth. This is a sad reflection on our unity as a church but it is likely that we cannot put our differences aside until Jesus is King.

Follow the Lord daily

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2th.3.5.KJV

What does the Bible say?

bible book business christian — Photo by John-Mark Smith on Pexels.com

Oh is that a loaded question or what? The Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the Son of God and the Word made flesh! So, in essence, when we read the Bible and study the Bible we are learning about God through Jesus the Living Word! When He was teaching His disciples the only Bible was the Old Testament because the New Testament hadn’t been written yet. But, Jesus is present in every book of the Old Testament and is revealed and explained in detail in the New Testament.

We have been created by God to reflect His Son because we were made in the image of God and by reflecting Jesus in our daily lives others can see Him in us. If we will obey His commandments and live by the Word of God throughout our lives. God sent Jesus to be the Savior of mankind because of the failure of the first Adam and to take back that which Satan stole from God. Of course, Satan doesn’t look at it as stealing. He sees it as taking back something which was his, except God didn’t give Satan the Earth to be the ruler of.

We are creatures which God blessed with a soul so that we can be in fellowship with God into eternity. We had that relationship in the Garden and we chose to do it differently, so now that Jesus has paid the price for our mistake. We can get our relationship with the Father back IF we will repent of our sinful ways and ask Jesus into our hearts. That doesn’t mean that we can get saved and then go back to sinning again! When the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts we are a new creation and we are not the same as we were before.

It’s kinda like working in an oil field all day and coming home with oil and grease all over you and your clothes and in your hair. Then you get into the shower and wash all of that stuff off of yourself and then put on some really nice white shoes and pants and a white shirt and tie and a jacket. Are you going to go back to the oil field in that? I don’t think so!

When we accept Jesus as our Savior the Holy Spirit comes in and cleans out all of the old stuff and freshens up the place. He gives you a new purpose and a new heart which is aligned with God’s purposes for your life. But, some people come out of the baptistry and then think that “I can go back to my old ways now, I got some fire insurance now.” That is not the way this works. You didn’t have anything to do with your salvation. You only accepted Jesus as your Savior when you realized, because of the Holy Spirit’s conviction, that you needed Jesus!!

If you hadn’t been convicted by faith, which God provided for you, and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, then you never would have felt that you needed salvation at all. So why would you get all cleaned up, inside and out as a born-again child of God, and then go back to your old life with the “old buddies” which drank with you and got drunk with you and laughed when you fell face down in the mud!

God loves you deeply and He doesn’t want you to be placed in torment with Satan and the angels who were stupid enough to be followers of a created being who wanted to be God! God has a better place in eternity for you and for me and it is in Heaven. Choose to follow Him, Jesus, for the rest of your life here so that you can have eternity with Him there! Because this life is short compared to eternity and our time is running out.

Are you one of the called?

In today’s society, we get calls all of the time. From telemarketers and scams and bill collectors and salespeople and from friends and family. All during the day and into the evening these calls come. Thank goodness for caller ID!

Have you been called by the Holy Spirit recently? Has He touched your heart and caused you to feel that Someone is missing in your life? If you have felt His touch or His call in your spirit, then you need to answer that call, that touch, that knock on your heart’s door so to speak. Because God uses His Spirit to call those who are needed in His service. Each of us has a place and a purpose for which only God knows that we can perform it and nobody else can. That is why Jesus called Saul to be His apostle to the Gentiles, That is why each of the Christians in the past two thousand years was called into their ministry.

Some of them were called to be witnesses or even preachers but many of them were called as Christian leaders in their home or community. Nothing world-shaking, no fantastic ministry spanning the globe. Just people who God knew could make an impact on those around them and cause some to come to know Jesus as their Savior. That is the ministry that some of us have been called to do.

Why would God use flawed, sinful human beings like us? Because we can relate to other flawed, sinful human beings! In the past, God has used different ways of getting His message heard or understood and today He uses us because the message is for humanity! God can get the message to us in a number of ways, but the easiest way to speak to people is through other people.

Will your words be heard by hundreds or thousands of people? It depends on whether you are called to be an evangelist who speaks to many people at a time or if you are a Christian father or mother who teaches their children and grandchildren about Jesus. God used a burning bush to speak to Moses and He used a donkey to speak to Balaam so He can use us in many different ways to get His message to those who need to hear it.

Even when those we are speaking to don’t want to hear it.

God can get their hearts to hear whether their ears are tuned into the message or not. Since God is in control of all things, the human soul is the spiritual heart and ear of each of us and He can use it to bring us to conviction and salvation. The thing that many of us don’t realize is that our salvation is based on our belief and our response to the conviction of our heart.

If someone told you that you had a fortune in gold available to you and all you had to do was to believe that it was real and take possession of it, wouldn’t you? But, when someone tells you that you can have your sins forgiven and also have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven if you will believe in Him and walk with Him daily by studying His Word and being a disciple of His…will you take that step of faith?

Seek your salvation by the name of Jesus and believe in Him for your salvation and serve Him in your daily living.

Fix your spiritual eyes on the things which are not seen

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.4.18.KJV

Are you certain?

Do you know for sure, without a doubt, that you are saved and sanctified by the blood of Jesus? Have you read through the gospels and wondered if any of this was real? When I was younger, I wondered if the Bible itself was real or was it just some fantastic book put together a long time ago. The more I studied it and read it and then read it again, I came to realize that, especially when I read about the martyrs and how they died for their faith in Jesus, this book and the stories in it had to be real! Because people would not die for a lie!

God loves each of you so much that He sent His Son to the Earth clothed in humanity’s flesh to be the sacrifice for ALL of our sins! It doesn’t matter if you are black or white or Asian or Turkish or from Kenya or Norway or Australia…God loves you!

There is no secret formula to become a Christian, other than believing in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins and giving your heart to Him in repentance of those sins. That’s it! Then, walk with Him daily for the rest of your life so that others might get a chance to see Him in you! Christ died for you and for every other person in the world. He paid the price for your sins so that you could have eternal life through Him.

Why did He do this? Because of God’s LOVE for you, that’s why! God did not pick and choose who was going to be saved and who wasn’t, the choice is up to you! When you feel that conviction in your heart and know that if you died today or tomorrow without Jesus, you would go to hell. Make a commitment to Jesus as His disciple from this moment on so your life will have a true meaning and a purpose now and into eternity!

God loves you and wants the best for you in His Kingdom so make sure that you are serving Him in your lifetime.

GodsBlessing

Holy, Holy, Holy!

HolyHolyHoly There isn’t anything you can say which will make this more poignant than it is.

How do we know?

How can we know that we have been saved? Can we know for certain? The Bible says that “our spirit communes with God“, even when we can’t pray our Spirit is constantly speaking to the Father in utterances which we can’t say. God knows about all of your needs and pains and trials and is there with you in all of them. When you read and study God’s Word and ask Him to show you His grace through the reading of it, He will.

God desires fellowship with us, just as He had with Adam and Eve in the garden. The only way that He can have that fellowship is when we have repented of our sins and asked Jesus to cleanse us of our old ways and make us into a new creation in Christ! God wants this relationship with His creation, particularly those of us made in His image. But, it seems that many of us have turned away from Him and His Word.

We have gone after strange gods and strange religions which are not of any real god at all. Many of them are religions which are “man-made” which is to say they are the imaginings of mankind. God is patient and loving enough that He hasn’t punished us for this, but He is keeping His anger in check until the time of Tribulation, which is yet to come. The world will know that there is a God, the Creator, Who is in control and Who is going to show the whole world Who He is!

How can you escape the punishment coming during that time? By giving your heart to Jesus and living as a disciple of His until He calls us up to Heaven one day soon. The church is the bride of Christ and will be taken up from Earth before the trials which will come on the whole world.

Although, at that time most of those who are here during those trials will not know that it is God Who is bringing the punishment on the world because they have refused to accept Jesus as their Savior. The few who realize why they are left behind may be turning their lives over to Jesus, but life will be very dangerous for them at that time. The world will be against most, if not all, religions in the world but especially Judaism and Christianity.

The best defense against Satan and the world that will be against your faith is to give your heart to Jesus now and serve Him until He does return for His bride. He is coming back soon, just as He said before He returned to take His seat next to the Father. Don’t discount the length of time that has elapsed since the day of Pentecost, we have been living in the age of grace, the church age, and when He calls His faithful followers home the rest of the world will know it.

If you truly are sincere about getting to know Jesus and to make sure of your salvation, follow this link and begin reading your Bible and serving Him today.

How can you be sure of your salvation?